All you growers with success!

[Freaktan]

I've never grown before, but am getting sick of having to the "hurry up and wait" or the "one more day, man...I swear" game, so I am starting to get the itch to try this out. My question is:

What kind of nutrients have worked best for you? I'm shopping around and have seen many, many different N-P-K ratios. Fox Farm, Peters, Miracle-Gro, Scotts, etc...

I am open to all comments and suggestions to get this project off the ground. Thanks

 

[BlackTurboTeg]

neuts are good.. but dont get me wrong many people might not like what i say here but u dont always need it.. if u get some soil that has food in it and last 3 months that will feed your plants . and if you look at Vapo grow he has not used any ferts and he is sucessful.. me my self dont use them and have had beatiful plants . and if your a first grow it might be easier one less thing to worry about if u over fertilized it or anything like that..

 

[Andrew86]

I didn't bother, just used some plain old soil, and they seem to be doing fine.
Check out my grow journal.

 

[Freaktan]

No nutes?? Wow, I'm all for that! I will check out your grow journals. Thanks for the info and dispelling a myth I carried.

 

[BlackTurboTeg]

like i said freaktan it is always good to do it but yes u can go all natural especally if this is your first time ..

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

I'd suggest using nutes atleast once a month. Yes you can get away with it if you have a nuted soil but if you keep the nutes at the highest safe level you will have a higher yield. Not disagreeing with b420 at all and he's right if it's your first time it's safer to not add nutes, that way you don't over do it and burn your plants. You especially don't need nutes if you are transplanting at various stages because each time you transplant into a larger pot you are using fresh soil with fresh nutes. I'm still a fan of nutes though lol.

 

[Freaktan]

Which nutes do you use NDW4M? If I were to use some, even further down the road as I gain more experience, would balance of nutes be good, like 10-10-10, or do I want more of one particular? For my first time, I want to keep this as simple and low-key as possible, so I am taking the advice of all the regulars that have responded and using nuted soil...like a Miracle-Gro or Sam's Time Release soil. Transplanting won't be a problem. I'd like to end up in a 5 gallon pot for the final transplant. I'm not going to grow more than 2-3 at a time, so I don't need anything large for commercial.

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

I use hydro nutes, the Flora series, even in my dirt grow. With those nutes you change the nute ratio depending on the plant stage. I think you will be just fine doing it with the timre release ferts. One thing you want to make sure of when you buy the soil is that there isn't a lot of wood chunks in it, Miracle Grow does this alot. This is good for most plants put it can cause extreme ph problems with cannabis. Just something to avoid if possible. :biggrin:

 

[Freaktan]

Awesome, man!! Thanks so much for all your help...all of you. It gets me started in the right direction. to you all.

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

Post Carp post lol always like your 2 cents

 

[Freaktan]

Post man...post. I need all the help I can get. Any and all suggestions are appreciated!!

 

[SmokeyMacPot]

general hydroponics sorry i wont be on so much i have a virus

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

yikes sorry smokey feel better bro

 

[Freaktan]

Carp, thanks for the info. I've heard so many "do this"...and "do that" that its a pain. I suppose the general idea is that it is a weed, so like most other weeds, it can grow in various soils. The only difference is that I am giving this one some TLC and not Round-Up Weed Killer.

Smokey...hope you feel better man. I've read about 150 of your posts throughout this forum, so I know what you are talking about as well. This will get me in the right direction. Thanks again!

 

[oldpuffer]

Hey I can't help you out, I've never grown before either....but wow I have some sweet plants. I planted mine outside in cow shit that had been sitting on this abandoned farm for like 4 years. My plants are about 7' tall and covered in bud. They get sun about half the day...early morning sun til about 3:30 in the afternoon, then all shade. Do you know when to harvest ?

 

[BlackTurboTeg]

hey Old i answered your question in your introduce your self thread but its all good ... you want to harvest when a majority of the hairs are the redish color

 

[PaRaLyZeD-420]

you should really go by the colour of the trichromes/crystals when they go from white to an amber colour would be your best time to harvest.

 

[Brushtail]

Maybe you should read up on BOG's indoor methods. I tinkered with his soil recipe a little bit and didnt have to add any nute except at the start of flowering. All tap ph nutral tap water !

Brushtail

 

[BlackTurboTeg]

Yo p420 i thouhg i was the pistils .. more than the trichomes

 

[NoDirtWeed4Me]

Ok I posted this over in his introduction thread but I'll repost it over here.

lol b420 I wrote another grow manual for another new user. This time for harvesting and drying lol.

I also PMed this to you oldpuffer.

1: When to harvest:
Easiest way to tell when it's time to harvest is when more than half of the calyxes(the white hairs) have turned red or brown. If you have a magnifying glass you can look at the trichromes, they are on the buds and look like little crystal mushrooms. When 50%-75% of the trichromes have turned an amber color it's time to harvest.

2: Trimming your bud at Harvest time:
Trimming you bud before drying it is the easiest way. How much you trim is up to you. The more leaf matter that you remove the smoother the smoke will be. Alot of the time people just trim off the big fan leaves and leave the smaller leaves protruding from the bud, which you can do because those leaves are coated in trichromes containing THC. Whatever you do do not simply dispose of your trimmmings. They are great for making either hash, cannabutter and canna-oil.


P.S.
Welcome to the site and congrats on the plants.

3: Drying and curing your harvest:
I know you didn't ask about this but being a first time grower you might not know about it so I'll throw it in.

There are many ways to cure bud, but the technique preferred by connoisseurs is the slow-cure method. The plants should be cut up so that individual stems can be hung on string or placed on open grill trays. The plants are placed in a cool, dark room, kept at 55-65°F (13-18°C) with a steady draft. The buds will slowly start to dry. At the same time, the cells that are still alive will change some of the starches to sugars, resulting in a smoother smoke.

After about five days you can raise the temperature in the room to about 80°F (27°C) in order to shorten drying time. Depending on the humidity, the buds will require one to three days to dry. There should still be a small amount of moisture in the buds when the drying process is over. The bud should bend a little before the piece breaks away.

Once the buds are dried they should be placed in tightly sealed glass jars or metal containers, and stored in the freezer. The buds can be kept in the freezer indefinitely with no loss of odor or potency.

Drying bud converts crude acidic THC from its nonactive form into a neutral pH psychoactive substance. Each THC molecule has to lose it's moisture content in order to become fully psychoactive. When the water exits the bud, the THC becomes slightly different in molecular structure.

Heating can make THC readily active by immedietly vaporizing the bud's moisture content away. However, aging is important too. First the bud is "dried", but can still contain some moisture within. By using the "cure", the THC slowly becomes psychoactive.

Curing builds a more uniformily dried bud with a better burn and taste. Almost all the THC converts to the usable psychoactive cannabaloid over the alotted time without the degradation gotten from heat drying the bud quickly. The bud that has equalized "cured" moisture content through out will give the bud a nice firey glow when burned.

Cured buds pack in bowls easier and break down into blunts and joints without difficulty. Hash that has been cured forms a beautiful rhine around the outside with a rich creamy inside. Cured bud and hash is great and worth the trouble. The taste is awesome as all the excess chlorophyll has been broken down. A smoother smoke is created.